My 2 cent about vet Maelstrom

acw37162

It's *** content.

Even players who regularly beat it hate it for various reason glitchyness, praying to RNJesus etc.

It does get easier tho after awhile you have to be a masochistic to continually run VMA.

I would rather have a root canal without the laughing gas before I will step foot in that place ever again.

It's maybe tied for first for my least favorite piece of content.

drumbendrum_ESO

The thing about VMA is you have to adapt to whatever is giving you the most trouble. You need to stop doing the things that are getting you killed, not keep doing them over and over.

Figure out a plan of action for whatever scenario is giving you trouble and eventually you will determine that VMA is a cake walk.

I cannot stress this enough but you need to snag all sigils, if you are dying and have not grabbed a single sigil. Then you are not going to push through to the next phase.

For all class's 2hander brawler is your friend with some sort of dmg mitigation ultimate for dealing with lots of mobs.

Ep1kMalware

ShadowNekrosys wrote: »

I was going to write a long post about what and why vet Mealstrom is a bit unbalanced for a stamina nightblade but whatever.. Let me just say that, from a probably average bosmer stamina nightblade player's perspective, you definetely and without any doubt are a bad solo end game designers.

I hope you can deal with it just like I dealt with the fact that I can't complete vet Maelstrom with my main character.

P.S. Have a nice day! :P

bosses seem bit unbalanced toward any stam class. (havent done it more than once since db, dat prosperous..) Thing is tho, stam classes have good dots and strong aoes and can burn adds/trash down fastwr than most magica classes. So there is a lot of give/take.

At the end of rhe day though, magica classes still seem to [perform better.

kendellking_chaosb14_ESO

Not that it's too hard now for me but it's boring as hell you only do it for the gear no point beyond that.

Ep1kMalware

kendellking_chaosb14_ESO wrote: »

Not that it's too hard now for me but it's boring as hell you only do it for the gear no point beyond that.

I agree. But it's not the fact it's a gear grind for me, it's the 'where's the *** gear???" that ruins it for me. If I got something from it more than 1/10 runs and have that 1 item be prosperous I would probably enjoy it more than Incurrently do. atm I refuse to go in there until prosperous/training is gone COMPLETELY.

Qbiken

KoshkaMurka wrote: »

Darlon wrote: »

There's plenty of average content already... Not saying that vma does not have it's flaws, but we don't need every single thing toned down to average difficulty..

This.

Do you have any idea how happy I´m for reading stuff like this . There´re still some people left in this world that doesn´t cry as soon as their build/gameplay doesn´t work .

Kihamai

ShadowNekrosys wrote: »

Calysis wrote: »

ShadowNekrosys wrote: »

I'm stuck at the final round of the final arena. All things happening in there together is just too much for me I guess.

It took me awhile to learn the final arena. I was stuck on the final round trying for like 2-3 hours straight one day because it was the crematorial guards messing me up. There's a little trick to them that I learned watching videos - if you're melee, you're going to want to circle them. Don't just stand in front of their monstrous fiery breath and face-tank it. It hurts. And so does the DOT from it. I didn't know this, and that is why I died... a lot.
As a nightblade, you have access to a wonderful ultimate called "Bolstering Darkness" that will reduce your damage taken by 60%. I strongly suggest that you use it in Maelstrom Arena. It's saved my life countless times. And if you're having trouble with the crematorial guards, just use that ultimate when dealing with them. It helps. Also, keep resolving vigor up going constantly, especially when dealing with crematorial guards. This sounds obvious, but I never realize when I don't have it up until my boyfriend is watching me and is like "you don't have vigor up!"

Also, which part of the final round are you having trouble with? There are "3 parts", you could say. The first part is when he summons the healer and crematorial guard (the first 30% of his health), the second part is the crystals phase where he goes to the top of the arena, and the third part is the rest after you destroy the crystals above the arena.

If it's the first part you're having trouble with (namely the crematorial guard), there is a way to bypass the crematorial guard altogether... If you have pretty high DPS, you can nuke the boss down to 70% health before he summons the crematorial guard and goes to the crystal phase. I usually try to do this, but sometimes he'll summon him anyway because I'm just not quick enough.

If it's the crystal phase you are having trouble with, then you're going to want to drop down (on purpose) after the second wall explodes if your DPS is lacking and you can't destroy all of the crystals. The DOT is ridiculous when you're above the arena doing the crystals and he does the wall mechanic three times. The goal is to destroy one crystal for each wall that he summons (the wall that prevents you from being pushed off the edge due to the explosion that he does). If you can't do this, then you'll want to drop down and quickly deal with the crematorial guard that is surely waiting at the bottom. When you drop down, the DOT and wall mechanics reset for when you go back up there.

If it's the third part you're having issues with, let me know exactly what it is (crematorial guards, summoners, his interrupt-able attack, etc). Most of the time, as soon as the crystal phase is over, I'll run over to him, bash/interrupt him, run to the gold ghost, and then run over to the shield sigil and pick it up. When/if that runs out, I'll either run over to the healing sigil or the power sigil and use that and execute him. When he gets to below 30% health, I'll ignore all the adds (including the summoners) and work on executing him.

-

Our gear is pretty similar. Instead of monster sets, I run 5pc Viper's Sting, 5pc Hunding's Rage, 2pc Leki's Focus (swords) and 1pc Leki's Focus (bow). All of my gear is medium, aside from the sash, which I had crafted light armor and already made legendary... This will eventually all be medium armor.
I'm sure that I could be running something better than Viper's Sting, but that's what I completed it with, so I don't really want to change it out and try something else since it was the armor set I used to complete it... Lol. But eventually, I'll swap it out for Vicious Serpent.

My Maelstrom Arena bar is like this:

Dual wield:
Blood Craze, Ambush, Surprise Attack, Power Extraction, Killer's Blade; Incapacitating Strike
Bow:
Relentless Focus, Rearming Trap, Poison Injection, Endless Hail, Resolving Vigor; Bolstering Darkness

I'm actually going to switch out "Incapacitating Strike" for "Dawnbreaker of Smiting" on my next run because it does so much more damage, but that's what I had completed it with on my first run since I didn't have Dawnbreaker of Smiting yet. ^^;

A big thing for me that was a game changer was having max food and stamina recovery. Orzoga's Tripe Trifle Pocket is amazing for the Maelstrom Arena. Gives you 5000 health and 457 stamina recovery for 2 hours. If you're having trouble with maintaining your resources and lack that particular food, I strongly suggest trying it out.

...I am totally sorry for writing a book, but I'm trying to help you out... lmao ;;'

Calysis thanks for your time. I'm already circling the crematorials so that's not my problem. The fact is, or at least it seems to me, that there are so many things to avoid that is just a matter of luck: while circling a crematorial I should avoid ghosts, chains red circles, skull bomb and fire/lava attacks. Well... don't know about you but it really feels a matter of rng.

Regarding phases...
1st one: I can drop him to 70 only after he teleports for the firts time, but haven't found a rotation to avoid him to evoke the crematorial. So I managed to get to the 2nd phase sometimes but never completed it since the crematorial kills me as soon as I touch the ground.

I'll try Bolstering Darkness, it seems a good deal.
I'm already using Orzoga's food for healt and stam regen.

May I ask you about your weapon damage and stamina recovery?

Thanks for your help, is really appreciated.

Do you have the Essence of Weapon Power potions that give you stamina, major savagery, and major brutality? Use one of those before the boss spawns in. Buff with Relentless Focus, plant your Rearming Trap, use your Endless Hail, charge up your bow's heavy attack, use it and poison injection when the boss spawns. Switch bars and surprise attack first (to reduce his armor) then Ambush & Incap. Then Surprise Attack, light attack, Blood craze, light attack, surprise attack, light attack, surprise attack, etc ...

Usually works for me. If you're still having trouble, use the power sigil. Although it's not a big deal to bypass the crematorial guard, honestly. But it's a thing. :~)

My weapon damage on my dual wield bar is 3000 unbuffed, about 2600 on my bow bar. I'm not available to check on my computer since I'm on vacation, but that's what I remember. Fully buffed, my weapon damage on my dual wield bar is just shy of 4000, about 3800. I use the weapon enchantment to increase my weapon damage, and then the major brutality buff from either my potions or power extraction gives me the rest. Relentless Focus gives you 8% more damage as well but I don't think it shows on the character menu.
My stamina recovery is about 1700 fully buffed, with food and with Relentless Focus going. It should actually be higher, but Relentless Focus is broken and only gives about 6% stamina recovery.

Toc de Malsvi wrote: »

Calysis wrote: »

I'm actually going to switch out "Incapacitating Strike" for "Dawnbreaker of Smiting" on my next run because it does so much more damage, but that's what I had completed it with on my first run since I didn't have Dawnbreaker of Smiting yet. ^^;

This is misleading and factually untrue for single target.

DboS cost: 100 ultimate
DboS base damage: 1027 initial + 1191 over 5 seconds.

InCap cost: 50 ultimate
InCap base damage: 1291

For single target you can use two Incap for every one DboS, so for 100 ultimate for single target InCap nets you 1582 base damage to DboS' 1218 base damage. Or roughly 20% more damage from InCap.

This does not even include the six seconds of empower you get from InCap. Assuming you are putting out 20k dps this equates to six seconds of an extra 4k damage per second. Which equates to an additional 24k damage.

For single target InCap's base damage out performs DboS by 20%. Considering that half of DboS damage is over 5 seconds, and that in that 5 seconds InCap will roughly double its base damage output, InCap is more than 200% more effective in single target situations than DboS.

To summerize, because InCap is more than 200% better than DboS in single target then essentially you need 3 or more targets for DboS to be an improvement over InCap.

Hi, thanks for the information.~ I was probably wrong to just state that it does more damage, but I personally feel that it does for how I play. I almost never use my ultimate. Because of this reason, I feel it would be more beneficial for me to use DBoS in place of Incap. I mainly save my ultimate for Bolstering Darkness in case I need it. For that specific arena, I feel it would be best for me to replace it since I would only use it at the beginning of the final boss round, and then I would save my ultimate and use Bolstering Darkness later. I would probably switch out DBoS for Incap when I'm dealing with bosses with no adds. ^^

code65536

Toc de Malsvi wrote: »

Calysis wrote: »

I'm actually going to switch out "Incapacitating Strike" for "Dawnbreaker of Smiting" on my next run because it does so much more damage, but that's what I had completed it with on my first run since I didn't have Dawnbreaker of Smiting yet. ^^;

This is misleading and factually untrue for single target.

DboS cost: 100 ultimate
DboS base damage: 1027 initial + 1191 over 5 seconds.

InCap cost: 50 ultimate
InCap base damage: 1291

For single target you can use two Incap for every one DboS, so for 100 ultimate for single target InCap nets you 1582 base damage to DboS' 1218 base damage. Or roughly 20% more damage from InCap.

This does not even include the six seconds of empower you get from InCap. Assuming you are putting out 20k dps this equates to six seconds of an extra 4k damage per second. Which equates to an additional 24k damage.

For single target InCap's base damage out performs DboS by 20%. Considering that half of DboS damage is over 5 seconds, and that in that 5 seconds InCap will roughly double its base damage output, InCap is more than 200% more effective in single target situations than DboS.

To summerize, because InCap is more than 200% better than DboS in single target then essentially you need 3 or more targets for DboS to be an improvement over InCap.

Another advantage of DB is the targeting. It has greater range and you only need to point it in the general direction of your target. That comes in handy when things get hectic.

What I prefer is Soul Harvest and DB. Equip Soul Harvest on the main killing bar (there are a lot of thing dying all the time in vMA) purely for the slot bonus (crit rate and ult gen) and only cast DB (except during boss execute phases when I have between 50 and 100 ultimate, then I'll cast SH for the 6s empowerment).

Many people don't think to use SH on a stamblade because it has the "wrong" damage type, but they forget that magblades usually don't cast SH either--it just there for the slot bonus.

Toc de Malsvi

Calysis wrote: »

Hi, thanks for the information.~ I was probably wrong to just state that it does more damage, but I personally feel that it does for how I play. I almost never use my ultimate. Because of this reason, I feel it would be more beneficial for me to use DBoS in place of Incap. I mainly save my ultimate for Bolstering Darkness in case I need it. For that specific arena, I feel it would be best for me to replace it since I would only use it at the beginning of the final boss round, and then I would save my ultimate and use Bolstering Darkness later. I would probably switch out DBoS for Incap when I'm dealing with bosses with no adds. ^^

No problem, the statement that DboS does more pops up from time to time and I think most mean what you state here. I did not mean to be rude, and I appreciate your candor, simply it is better to be more accurate when assessing skills. There are often strategic reasons for why one ultimate fits the needs of one player more than another that have little to do with the output of that ultimate itself.

code65536 wrote: »

Another advantage of DB is the targeting. It has greater range and you only need to point it in the general direction of your target. That comes in handy when things get hectic.

What I prefer is Soul Harvest and DB. Equip Soul Harvest on the main killing bar (there are a lot of thing dying all the time in vMA) purely for the slot bonus (crit rate and ult gen) and only cast DB (except during boss execute phases when I have between 50 and 100 ultimate, then I'll cast SH for the 6s empowerment).

Many people don't think to use SH on a stamblade because it has the "wrong" damage type, but they forget that magblades usually don't cast SH either--it just there for the slot bonus.

Very true, I also prefer Soul Harvest although it is hard for me to get away from InCap on my stamina NB. I love Soul Harvest on my MagNB, especially in vMA, you can use it for almost every 3rd add. Also yes, players often overlook potential benefits because of tunnel vision into particular game play understandings.